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Primary Documents - General Maxwell on the Easter Rising, April 1916

Reproduced below is the
official report produced by General
Sir John
Maxwell into British military operations during the
Easter
Rising. Maxwell was sent to Dublin by the British government to
quell the Irish nationalist uprising and to restore order.

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to read the Irish Proclamation which initiated the uprising on 24 April
1916.

Official Report by
General Sir John Maxwell on the Easter Rising, April 1916

The rebellion began by Sinn
Feiners, presumably acting under orders, shooting in cold blood certain
soldiers and policemen. Simultaneously they took possession of various
important buildings and occupied houses along the routes in the City of
Dublin which were likely to be used by troops taking up posts.

Most of the rebels were not
in any uniform, and by mixing with peaceful citizens made it almost
impossible for the troops to distinguish between friend and foe until fire
was opened.

In many cases troops having
passed along a street seemingly occupied by harmless people were suddenly
fired upon from behind from windows and roof tops. Such were the
conditions when reinforcements commenced to arrive in Dublin.

Whilst fighting continued
under conditions at once so confused and so trying, it is possible that some
innocent citizens were shot. It must be remembered that the struggle
was in many cases of a house-to-house character, that sniping was continuous
and very persistent, and that it was often extremely difficult to
distinguish between those who were or had been firing upon the troops and
those who had for various reasons chosen to remain on the scene of the
fighting, instead of leaving the houses and passing through the cordons.

The number of such
incidents that has been brought to notice is very insignificant.

Once the rebellion started
the members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police - an unarmed uniformed force -
had to be withdrawn, or they would have been mercilessly shot down, as,
indeed, were all who had the bad luck to meet the rebels. In their
absence a number of the worst elements of the city joined the rebels and
were armed by them. The daily record of the Dublin Magistrates' Court
proves that such looting as there was was done by such elements.

There have been numerous
incidents of deliberate shooting on ambulances and those courageous people
who voluntarily came out to tend to the wounded. The City Fire
Brigade, when turned out in consequence of incendiary fires, were fired on
and had to retire.

As soon as it was
ascertained that the rebels had established themselves in various centres,
the first phase of operations was conducted with a view to isolate them by
forming a cordon of troops round each.

To carry out this streets
were selected along which the cordon could be drawn. Some of these
streets, for instance, North King Street, were found to be strongly held,
rebels occupying the roofs of houses, upper windows, and strongly
constructed barricades.

Artillery fire was only
used to reduce the barricades, or against a particular house known to be
strongly held. The troops suffered severe losses in establishing these
cordons, and, once established, the troops were subjected to a continuous
fire from all directions, especially at night time, and invariably from
persons concealed in houses.

To give an idea of the
opposition offered to his Majesty's troops in the execution of their duty,
the following losses occurred:

Officers 17 killed, 46
wounded
Other ranks 89 killed, 288 wounded

I wish to draw attention to
the fact that, when it became known that the leaders of the rebellion wished
to surrender, the officers used every endeavour to prevent further
bloodshed; emissaries were sent in to the various isolated bands, and time
was given them to consider their position.

I cannot imagine a more
difficult situation than that in which the troops were placed; most of those
employed were draft-finding battalions, or young Territorials from England,
who had no knowledge of Dublin.

The surrenders, which began
on April 30th, were continued until late on May 1st, during which time there
was a considerable amount of isolated sniping.

Under the circumstances
related above I consider the troops as a whole behaved with the greatest
restraint, and carried out their disagreeable and distasteful duties in a
manner which reflects the greatest credit on their discipline.

Allegations on the
behaviour of the troops brought to my notice are being most carefully
inquired into. I am glad to say they are few in number, and these are
not all borne out by direct evidence.

Numerous cases of unarmed
persons killed by rebels during the outbreak have been reported to me.
As instances, I may select the following: J. Brien, a constable of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police, was shot while on duty at Castle Gate on April
24th. On the same day another constable of the same force named M.
Lahiff was shot while on duty at St. Stephen's Green. On April 25th R.
Waters of Recess, Monkstown, County Dublin, was shot at Mount Street Bridge
while being driven into Dublin by Captain Scovell, R.A.M.C.

All these were unarmed, as
was Captain Scovell. In the last case the car was not challenged or
asked to stop.

I wish to emphasize that
the responsibility for the loss of life, however it occurred, the
destruction of property and other losses, rests entirely with those who
engineered this revolt, and who, at a time when the empire is engaged in a
gigantic struggle, invited the assistance and cooperation of the Germans.